Instant results and easy to use

Over 1000 professional users agree

a la calc is used by nutritionists, schools, restaurants, consultants, manufacturers, bakeries, confectioneries, take-aways, sandwich shops and laboratories. Our team has more than 50 years experience in the food industry making a la calc the obvious choice for professionals and individuals.

Secure access from anywhere

With a la calc you can access your recipes from any internet connected device – be it a computer, tablet or phone. Thanks to bank-level encryption we ensure that your recipes are safe.

Student Management

Managing students can be difficult, so the team have created an area to make life easier. Create, edit and delete student profiles with just a few clicks. Easily upload your database of students for bulk creation of accounts. Reset forgotten student passwords remotely.

Progress Monitoring

In the teaching area, you can easily see many statistics on our students including how many times the student has logged in, how many recipes they have created and how long each recipe has taken to reach to the final calculation stage.

Web Access

The lesson doesn't end when the student leaves the classroom, that is why it is important that students can access a la calc from anywhere with an internet connection. iPads and tablets, laptops, PCs can all be used to gain access to our services.

Teaching Resources

a la calc and TeamChefs.tv have collaborated in creating unique, specially targeted teaching resources for all our Education Edition users. Ranging from lesson plans to student worksheets and coursework guides and covering a variety of education levels everything is downloadable from within the teaching area.

Superfast recipe editor

alacalc.com makes creating and editing recipes a joy. Instant results for the ingredient search and full keyboard control means that you achieve more in less time. We are proud of the result – try it out!

Access to 12,000+ ingredients

We include the USDA nutrient database maintained by the US Department of Agriculture. Additionally, we include a UK based data source and our own nutrient database for other common manufacturing ingredients. In total this gives you access to more than 12,000 ingredients.

Add special ingredients

If you use special ingredients not covered by the official nutrient databases, a la calc lets you easily add those to your personal ingredient database with our custom ingredient feature.

Accurate nutritional analysis

FDA compliant labels

Our calculations use approved methodologies to generate nutrition analysis facts labels which follow the FDA mandated regulations. That means, you get nutrition facts labels according to the US standard instantly.

GDA, RDAs and allergens

a la calc calculates both the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) values of your recipes. And if your recipe is based on the McCance and Widdowson nutrient database (UK standard), we analyse it for allergen components as well!

Quantitative Ingredients Declaration

Quantitative Ingredients Declaration (QUID), i.e. the quantity percentage of an ingredient used in the manufacture of a recipe, is an essential part of every product label. a la calc generates the necessary information for QUID automatically for you.

Share & Export

Easily export your nutritional analysis results as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, download nutritional facts labels for printing or postprocessing or share the result with collaborators and colleagues.

Cost breakdown

Recipe costing is an essential part of the product development and a la calc gives you the necessary tools for it. It allows you to specify the cost of each ingredient, and gives you a full cost breakdown for your recipe.

Define your own ingredients

Some special ingredients may not be included in the standard database. For such cases, a la calc provides a personal ingredient database, to which you can add new ingredients, specify their nutritional values and use them in your recipes.

Sub-recipes

Often recipes share a common part, for example a sauce or spice mixture that is used in many recipes. To simplify your life in such cases, we built a la calc so that it treats recipes just like normal ingredients. That is, you can simply create a recipe for your the sauce or spice mixture, and add it as an ingredient in your other recipes.

Free automatic updates

Never worry about updates ever again. With alacalc.com, updates and improvements are automatically available to you without downloads. And the best thing is, they come for free!

Bank-level security

Security has top priority at a la calc to ensure that you and only you have access to your recipes. This is why we use 256-bit encryption and bank-level security technology to keep your recipes safe.

Daily backups

We carefully select the most reliable server provider worldwide, but things can always go wrong. That is why we encrypt and back up the entire a la calc system every day onto a separate data centre so that things are always running smoothly.

Unbeatable cost-effective

A laboratories test costs typically more than $100 per product. With alacalc.com, recipes cost $3.30 per recipe or much less if you are on an unlimited plan. This makes a la calc orders of magnitude more cost effective!

Instant results

Laboratory results take days or weeks to arrive. With a la calc you get them instantly. This is not only much more convenient, but enables you to keep an eye on your nutritional values during product development.

Accuracy

Both a la calc and laboratory analysis yield accurate results if done properly. However, laboratory analysis suffer from the problem that the analysis is based on very few product samples. If these samples are not representative or the recipe changes slightly, the laboratory based analysis may be less accurate than a calculation of the full recipe specification with a la calc.

Updating results

Product development is an evolutionary process where recipes change often day by day to meet cost, nutrition and taste targets. Laboratory time and costs very quickly mount up when constantly submitting new versions of your recipes, a la calc will allow you to continually edit and update your recipe free of charge so you reach your key targets quickly and cost effectively.

More insight

You want to reduce the amount of fat or salt in your product? Laboratories can only give you the final nutritional values. a la calc gives you much deeper insight: a breakdown of how ingredients contribute to the nutritional values. That is, you can spot immediately which ingredient is the biggest salt/fat contributor - a la calc even tells you what you need to change in order to achieve your target!

Limitations

For products that undergo chemical or biological processing which will change the nutritional value of the original ingredients calculated nutritional analysis has reduced accuracy, as a database based approach might reach its limits. But even then a la calc is an extremely helpful tool to get first estimates of the nutritional values.

Quick Service

We are known for our fast and helpful customer service. Typically we resolve any issues within a few hours. And are you missing something essential? Let us know, and we might be implementing your feature the next week!

How do I get started with alacalc?

It takes less than 5 min. Click on the register button, sign up with your email address and you can immediately start. It won't take more than a few minutes before you have analysed your first recipe.

Can I use a la calc for labelling my retail products?

Yes. This is the precise reason a la calc has been created. Please use your results from a la calc on retail products, menus or just for development purposes.

Can I create sub-recipes (component recipes)?

Yes. All recipes are automatically marked as 'sub-recipes' (aka 'component' recipes). To add a sub-recipe to your current recipe simply search for the recipe name when adding ingredients and add in the same way you would any other ingredient.

Can I create a custom ingredients?

Yes. In the rare circumstance that our database doesn't have what you need go to My Ingredients > Create New from the main navigation bar. You can also use a standard database item as a template for a new item should you wish.

I don't have all 55 nutrients and allergen information for my custom ingredient, will it still work?

Yes, however, be aware that a la calc will treat blank values in your custom ingredient as '0' when calculating your nutritional values. It is advised that you fill as much information as you can and be aware that any missing nutrients may be slightly inaccurate in the end result.

I purchased recipes/subscription but it isn't showing up on my account yet, why?

We use paypal for processing payments and very occasionally (approximately 1%) paypal take a day or two to verify the payment. This is for security purposes. a la calc will automatically credit your account as soon as the payment clears, however, if you urgently need your recipes/subscription please contact us and we will arrange some temporary recipes to get you started.

How can I get an invoice?

You can access your orders and invoices through My Workspace > My Account > Invoices, from there you can download a PDF of your invoice if paid using the automated paypal payments. Otherwise, contact us at [email protected] and we will gladly raise an invoice for you manually.

a la calc is not VAT registered and so do not add a charge for VAT on your orders/invoices.

One of my ingredients has only 'g', 'kg', 'lb' and 'oz'? I would like to use 'ml', 'l', 'fl oz', ...

We are constantly working to fill gaps in our database, including weight measurements. If you would like to see a particular gap filled for your needs please contact us at [email protected] and we will make it a priority. Alternatively, you can easily create a copy of that ingredient and add new needed measurements yourself.

Can other people see my recipes / custom ingredients?

Only you can view or change your recipes and ingredients by default. However, you can share a recipe with the 'Share link' button in the 'Nutrition' tab of a recipe.

Can I use a la calc with Windows, Linux, on a Mac or with an iPad or Android tablet?

Yes, a la calc is an online application and can be used from any internet connected device with a javascript enabled browser.

Does a la calc calculate '5-a-day' results?

Currently the a la calc does not offer an automated calculation for 5-a-day counts. However, to do this manually is very simple. Just add up the weights of all your fruit and vegetables and divide by 80g.

Does a la calc work on animal food?

Yes, with the limitation that our nutrition databases do not cover food specifically designed for animals, and our Guideline Daily Amounts only refer to food for human consumption. However nutrition information can still be calculated if you add custom ingredients to a la calc. You would have to know the nutritional values of the item of food from the retail packet or get them from the manufacturers.

I would like to integrate my software with a la calc. Do you offer an API?

Nutritional analysis made easy!

Instant results and easy to use

Over 1000 professional users agree

a la calc is used by nutritionists, schools, restaurants, consultants, manufacturers, bakeries, confectioneries, take-aways, sandwich shops and laboratories. Our team has more than 50 years experience in the food industry making a la calc the obvious choice for professionals and individuals.

Secure access from anywhere

With a la calc you can access your recipes from any internet connected device – be it a computer, tablet or phone. Thanks to bank-level encryption we ensure that your recipes are safe.

Student Management

Managing students can be difficult, so the team have created an area to make life easier. Create, edit and delete student profiles with just a few clicks. Easily upload your database of students for bulk creation of accounts. Reset forgotten student passwords remotely.

Progress Monitoring

In the teaching area, you can easily see many statistics on our students including how many times the student has logged in, how many recipes they have created and how long each recipe has taken to reach to the final calculation stage.

Web Access

The lesson doesn't end when the student leaves the classroom, that is why it is important that students can access a la calc from anywhere with an internet connection. iPads and tablets, laptops, PCs can all be used to gain access to our services.

Teaching Resources

a la calc and TeamChefs.tv have collaborated in creating unique, specially targeted teaching resources for all our Education Edition users. Ranging from lesson plans to student worksheets and coursework guides and covering a variety of education levels everything is downloadable from within the teaching area.

Total control over your recipes

Superfast recipe editor

alacalc.com makes creating and editing recipes a joy. Instant results for the ingredient search and full keyboard control means that you achieve more in less time. We are proud of the result – try it out!

Access to 12,000+ ingredients

We include the USDA nutrient database maintained by the US Department of Agriculture. Additionally, we include a UK based data source and our own nutrient database for other common manufacturing ingredients. In total this gives you access to more than 12,000 ingredients.

Add special ingredients

If you use special ingredients not covered by the official nutrient databases, a la calc lets you easily add those to your personal ingredient database with our custom ingredient feature.

Nutritional Analysis

Accurate nutritional analysis

FDA compliant labels

Our calculations use approved methodologies to generate nutrition analysis facts labels which follow the FDA mandated regulations. That means, you get nutrition facts labels according to the US standard instantly.

GDA, RDAs and allergens

a la calc calculates both the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) values of your recipes. And if your recipe is based on the McCance and Widdowson nutrient database (UK standard), we analyse it for allergen components as well!

Quantitative Ingredients Declaration

Quantitative Ingredients Declaration (QUID), i.e. the quantity percentage of an ingredient used in the manufacture of a recipe, is an essential part of every product label. a la calc generates the necessary information for QUID automatically for you.

Share & Export

Easily export your nutritional analysis results as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, download nutritional facts labels for printing or postprocessing or share the result with collaborators and colleagues.

Get your price tag right

Cost breakdown

Recipe costing is an essential part of the product development and a la calc gives you the necessary tools for it. It allows you to specify the cost of each ingredient, and gives you a full cost breakdown for your recipe.

Custom ingredients

Define your own ingredients

Some special ingredients may not be included in the standard database. For such cases, a la calc provides a personal ingredient database, to which you can add new ingredients, specify their nutritional values and use them in your recipes.

Sub-recipes

Often recipes share a common part, for example a sauce or spice mixture that is used in many recipes. To simplify your life in such cases, we built a la calc so that it treats recipes just like normal ingredients. That is, you can simply create a recipe for your the sauce or spice mixture, and add it as an ingredient in your other recipes.

Hate installing updates?

Free automatic updates

Never worry about updates ever again. With alacalc.com, updates and improvements are automatically available to you without downloads. And the best thing is, they come for free!

Bank-level security

Security has top priority at a la calc to ensure that you and only you have access to your recipes. This is why we use 256-bit encryption and bank-level security technology to keep your recipes safe.

Daily backups

We carefully select the most reliable server provider worldwide, but things can always go wrong. That is why we encrypt and back up the entire a la calc system every day onto a separate data centre so that things are always running smoothly.

alacalc.com vs Laboratory Results

Unbeatable cost-effective

A laboratories test costs typically more than $100 per product. With alacalc.com, recipes cost $3.30 per recipe or much less if you are on an unlimited plan. This makes a la calc orders of magnitude more cost effective!

Instant results

Laboratory results take days or weeks to arrive. With a la calc you get them instantly. This is not only much more convenient, but enables you to keep an eye on your nutritional values during product development.

Accuracy

Both a la calc and laboratory analysis yield accurate results if done properly. However, laboratory analysis suffer from the problem that the analysis is based on very few product samples. If these samples are not representative or the recipe changes slightly, the laboratory based analysis may be less accurate than a calculation of the full recipe specification with a la calc.

Updating results

Product development is an evolutionary process where recipes change often day by day to meet cost, nutrition and taste targets. Laboratory time and costs very quickly mount up when constantly submitting new versions of your recipes, a la calc will allow you to continually edit and update your recipe free of charge so you reach your key targets quickly and cost effectively.

More insight

You want to reduce the amount of fat or salt in your product? Laboratories can only give you the final nutritional values. a la calc gives you much deeper insight: a breakdown of how ingredients contribute to the nutritional values. That is, you can spot immediately which ingredient is the biggest salt/fat contributor - a la calc even tells you what you need to change in order to achieve your target!

Limitations

For products that undergo chemical or biological processing which will change the nutritional value of the original ingredients calculated nutritional analysis has reduced accuracy, as a database based approach might reach its limits. But even then a la calc is an extremely helpful tool to get first estimates of the nutritional values.

Customer service

Quick Service

We are known for our fast and helpful customer service. Typically we resolve any issues within a few hours. And are you missing something essential? Let us know, and we might be implementing your feature the next week!

Price Plans

Start with our free trial. Happy and want more? Choose between our pay as you go or an unlimited use plans.

For each recipe you get a complete calculation for Nutrition and Costings. And of course your recipes can always be adjusted to your full satisfaction.

Nutrient Calculations

Allergen Information

Recipe Costings

Downloadable Results

Image Uploads

Technical Support

At a la calc we believe in the value of education. Therefore we provide massive special discounts for community projects, emotional behavioural development, special circumstance and special needs units.